Head to head · Boys' names
Beau vs Ezekiel
#60 vs #61 in 2025
Beau is a whisker ahead (#60 vs #61 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Beau is climbing the charts fast, Ezekiel is holding its place on the charts.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
The tape is even: Beau and Ezekiel each lead 3 measures of 6.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Beau —, Ezekiel #493 — Ezekiel higher
- 1890s: Beau —, Ezekiel #641 — Ezekiel higher
- 1900s: Beau —, Ezekiel #766 — Ezekiel higher
- 1910s: Beau —, Ezekiel #871 — Ezekiel higher
- 1920s: Beau —, Ezekiel #969 — Ezekiel higher
- 1930s: Beau #3776, Ezekiel #1022 — Ezekiel higher
- 1940s: Beau #3108, Ezekiel #978 — Ezekiel higher
- 1950s: Beau #2323, Ezekiel #1169 — Ezekiel higher
- 1960s: Beau #1195, Ezekiel #1349 — Beau higher
- 1970s: Beau #494, Ezekiel #961 — Beau higher
- 1980s: Beau #308, Ezekiel #739 — Beau higher
- 1990s: Beau #415, Ezekiel #549 — Beau higher
- 2000s: Beau #437, Ezekiel #299 — Ezekiel higher
- 2010s: Beau #237, Ezekiel #148 — Ezekiel higher
- 2020s: Beau #84, Ezekiel #55 — Ezekiel higher
Ezekiel stood higher in 11 of 15 decades; Ezekiel has held the lead since the 2000s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Beau | Ezekiel |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #493 |
| 1890s | — | #641 |
| 1900s | — | #766 |
| 1910s | — | #871 |
| 1920s | — | #969 |
| 1930s | #3776 | #1022 |
| 1940s | #3108 | #978 |
| 1950s | #2323 | #1169 |
| 1960s | #1195 | #1349 |
| 1970s | #494 | #961 |
| 1980s | #308 | #739 |
| 1990s | #415 | #549 |
| 2000s | #437 | #299 |
| 2010s | #237 | #148 |
| 2020s | #84 | #55 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Beau
- Canada#50
Ezekiel
Not charting outside the US.
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Beau
Handsome, beautiful (French)
bellus → bel → beau → Beau
How it traveled
The root is Latin bellus, "pretty, fine," which became bel and beau in Old French. English took the word in during the late seventeenth century to describe a fashionable man, and later a woman's suitor — a sense that survives in older novels and in the plural, beaux.
Ezekiel
God strengthens
From Hebrew Yeḥezqel, combining a verb for strength with the divine name El.
Yeḥezqel → Iezekiēl → Ezechiel → Ezekiel
How it traveled
The name is Hebrew, borne by the prophet whose book records his visions during the Babylonian exile — the valley of dry bones among them. Greek translators of the Hebrew scriptures rendered it Iezekiēl, and Latin made it Ezechiel, which is how it reached medieval and then early modern Europe.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Beau
BOH
Rhymes with go. It sounds exactly like the bow of bow and arrow, and like the name Bo, so the spelling usually has to be given aloud.
- Bo — A separate spelling of the same sound, used informally for a Beau and also given on its own as a full name.
- Beauregard — Runs the other way: the longer American name that Beau has historically served as the short form of, now rarely used itself.
Ezekiel
ih-ZEE-kee-ul
Stress on the second syllable. Some speakers open with a fuller ee-. The Spanish Ezequiel is said eh-seh-KYEL, with the stress at the end — worth knowing in bilingual families.
- Zeke — The standard English short form, informal, and used as a given name on its own as well.
- Eze — Informal, mostly within families; also a separate surname and given name in Igbo, unrelated in origin.
- Zeek — A phonetic respelling of Zeke, seen in informal writing more than on documents.
Who has carried each name
Beau
Beau Bridges (b. 1941) — Emmy-collecting actor of a famous acting family
Ezekiel
No documented entry for Ezekiel yet.
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Beau if you want…
- a name on the way upup 49 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesBeau is 1 syllable to Ezekiel's 3
- a name that charts abroad tooBeau is on the national lists of Canada
- a newer arrivalBeau entered the US charts in 1932
Choose Ezekiel if you want…
- a name holding steadyEzekiel is holding its place on the charts
- a name with more sound in itEzekiel runs 3 syllables, Beau 1
- a long American recordEzekiel was already in use when US records began in 1880
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Beau
Strengths
- One syllable and one pronunciation — anyone who hears it can say it back correctly.
- The spelling is already familiar to English speakers from the word itself and from beaux, so it reads on paper without instruction.
- Needs no nickname and takes none: it works unchanged from a nursery door to a business card.
To consider
- In English, beau still carries its older sense of a sweetheart or suitor. Most people never think of it; a few will remark on it.
- Because Beau and Bo sound identical, expect a lifetime of spelling it out over the phone and on forms.
- The name is climbing quickly. A Beau born now will likely be the only one in his class, but may meet several others by adulthood.
Ezekiel
Strengths
- Zeke is a long-established short form, so the name comes with a ready informal version already understood by everyone.
- The spelling is fixed by centuries of English Bibles, which makes it recognizable in writing even to people who have never met one.
- A documented line from Hebrew through Greek and Latin into English, unbroken for well over two thousand years.
To consider
- It carries a clear scriptural weight — the prophet, the visions, the dry bones. That reference will follow the name, which suits some families and not others.
- Expect Ezequiel as a spelling correction, especially where Spanish is widely spoken, and expect strangers to shorten it to Zeke without asking.
- Four syllables is a lot next to a long surname, and it will be spelled out on the phone more than once.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Beau
56%chance Beau feels dated by 2040
Beau is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
Ezekiel
40%chance Ezekiel feels dated by 2040
Ezekiel sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Beau and Ezekiel in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Beau and Ezekiel?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Beau and Ezekiel — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Beau or Ezekiel — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Beau or Ezekiel?
- Beau, in 2025: Beau ranked #60 with 5,165 babies; Ezekiel ranked #61 with 5,091 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Beau or Ezekiel?
- Beau. Over the last five years Beau moved up 49 places; Ezekiel moved up 3 places.
- Which is the older name, Beau or Ezekiel?
- Beau entered the US charts in 1932; Ezekiel was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Ezekiel is the older name.
- How many people are named Beau and Ezekiel?
- About 64,000 people named Beau are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 81,000 people named Ezekiel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Beaus or Ezekiels in the classroom?
- Beau will almost certainly be the only one in school. Ezekiel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Beau, Ezekiel and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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